Staying Together
by brucenatfvr
Summary: Bruce and Natasha have finally built a future together, the wars were over and the world no longer needed them as before. Together, they fulfill the greatest dream they've ever had, but not everything will be easy. Many things that will test their relationship and the stability of their family are about to happen. Can they stay together?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: The characters, as well as some situations and places presented here are owned by Marvel. I only take credit for the direction and focus of the story.**

 **Note: This story is located in the future, some situations are going to be a bit different. I hope this story will please you.**

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November 19, 2025

The dark sky and without any trace of a star is something that characterized Russia at this time of year. The wind was colder than usual and you could feel it reaching deep into your being and running through each one of your bones. For someone who had lived all their lives here, these little details were not unusual, they were used to high temperatures and dark overnights. People and cars travel without paying attention to the environment that surrounds them, focused on their cell phones, in any magazine or newspaper they are reading, or simply having a casual conversation with the person they have on their side.

The seconds and minutes pass calmly and nobody seems to notice the woman covered by an elegant black jacket that comes down with all the elegance of a black truck. Her eyes quickly move around, observing the children who are still playing with their friends outside their homes, people who leave their work, couples walking down the street holding hands, the nightlife of this city. Nothing new and nothing interesting.

She had to admit that to be one of the few times she stepped on Russian territory again, things were still the same as the last time she was here, she could almost swear that everything was the same as she remembered when she was little. While she had no pleasant memories of his childhood or youth she could not forget all the things that had happened in this country. Some good, others bad, but each of them changed her live and turned her into the woman she was today.

She looked around once again before a voice made her turn to the man who accompanied her, "Don't forget what the mission is about agent, one wrong step and we're in trouble" her gaze turned incredulous as she heard those words, she wanted to laugh and hit him, how dare he say something like that? Did not he know who she was? "I don't need you to remind me how to do my job, I know perfectly every move I'm going to carry out. I've spent a lot of time in this business" hoped that was enough to make him understand that it had not been the best way to address her. Satisfied watch as the man swallowed with difficulty and lowered his eyes embarrassed, clearly not knowing what to answer.

Without saying a word, she turned, closed the car door a little harder, and went to the place in front of her. A small bar, elegant and with the typical architecture of Russian establishments. She knew she was late for almost fifteen minutes, but she was also aware that the person with whom she was going to meet was not going to leave without seeing her.

Calling the attention of the people inside the bar, mostly men, she went to a young employee who wore her uniform a little shorter than it was, her blond hair was straight down to the middle of her waist, her blue eyes made a good contrast with her hair and her delicate white skin, the pink tone of her cheeks was just the final touch. And still, she noticed how she attracted more attention than the girl.

"Excuse me?", The soft but powerful tone of her voice alerted the young woman who wrote down some names in a notebook, watched as the girl ran her whole with her eyes and as she made a face in the end, she could not help but let out a little smile, she was already used to provoking that kind of reactions in the female population, "Yes, how can I help you?" Although her words had been formal and polite, the tone of voice that she used was cold, inside she could not help feeling flattered, she never sought to attract attention or make a woman feel less, precisely that was what bothered them, her charm was so natural that even with the smallest actions or details the attention always focused on her.

"A person is waiting for me, could you tell me where I can find him?"

"Could you give me the name of the person, please?"

"Joseph Kirby" the girl took a small notebook with what seemed to be all the names of the people there and was sliding her finger for each of them, until finally found what she was looking for. "Yes, indeed, he is at one of the tables in the back, in the VIP area, if you are kind enough to follow me, please" she gave a slight nod, and followed the girl in complete silence. While they were advancing, she could not avoid studying the faces that surrounded her and the atmosphere that existed in the bar, there were very few couples that were there, most of the clients were men and they were divided into groups, some more drunk than others, they were a few who were alone or who were in a business meeting.

Soon, the worker slipped a door and a more elegant and quiet room appeared in front of them. The tables that there were had small armchairs that surrounded them, some in a circular shape and others were facing each other. It was precisely in one of those armchairs that she found sitting at her date partner today, he was in front of her so he did not take his eyes off hers until they were face to face.

"Take a seat, miss" the way he uttered the last word made her feel a strange sensation from head to toe "We have a lot to talk about" the young worker left after offering them something to drink, she asked for a glass of water and he another beer.

"I did not expect your call" she said with the safest attitude that was possible to pretend "I must assume that it is not a courtesy visit, if so, we would have seen ourselves in another place and not in a country on the other side of the world and to which I have not come in years" she gave a drink to her water and leaned back in the chair with her arms crossed "So tell me, what is the reason for this meeting, Fury?"

"Incredible, you have not lost your charm, Natasha, you still have that defiant and dangerous attitude that was so useful to us so many times, for everything that has happened, I thought I would find you a little different"

"I see no reason why I should behave differently" she held her gaze for several seconds, neither of them said anything, it was not until she decided to find out what was happening, that she broke eye contact and spoke "Tell me what is happening Nick, neither you nor I are used to giving a lot of thought to an issue" she observed him smile with pride "Something is happening, right?"

After several seconds, he spoke. "They know, Natasha" his gaze became one of concern "Everything has been uncovered"

Natasha's breathing became difficult and heavy, she had understood perfectly the meaning of Fury's words. They had discovered her most precious secret, now, everything she wanted most was in danger. But she was not going to let anything that belonged to her be taken from they, she would fight until the end to be happy, she deserved it, she would not rest until she was sure that no one of her people was in danger. She would face whoever had to do it.

"How did they discover it?" Fury was surprised by Natasha's calm face, it seemed like she had not heard a single word of what he had said "A few months ago, new people came to the team, you know, training team. No one suspected that they had bad intentions, they passed all the necessary tests and did not show suspicious behavior, until recently. We began to notice that three of the new recruits were missing training very often and were out of the complex almost all the time, so we started to investigate. We discovered them spying on the Stark residence, especially on little Morgan, what we did not count on was that precisely that day, the twins were also there, they started to investigate about them, and by the time we were able to intervene they had already gathered enough information and they had spread it to the people they worked for"

Natasha's face looked like stone, each muscle was tense and both hands were clenched in a fist, so hard that her knuckles were white. She could not believe how three people had been able to completely evade security and the best spies and agents. It bothered her greatly that now everyone knew about them. But she would protect them with her life if necessary, she would give all of her for all three were well.

"I imagine you have not commented this with anyone, right?"

"That's right, the first thing I did as soon as we discovered everything was to contact you, we did not want to waste time, if I cited you here, it was to avoid suspicion, we should not alert them"

"It seems good to me, what is going on now, I don't think you came without a plan"

"In effect, Romanoff, I have a plan, but I don't think it's to your liking" she was desperate, she wanted to get out of this damn place at once and return home "Talk about it, Fury" He couldn't not do it when she used that tone "They have to be under the care of other people, at least, while we manage to discover who is the head of this plan, we can not risk that they try to attack you, not after the last thing that happened"

Fury was right, she did not like this plan at all, she did not conceive the idea of getting away. But she also remembered the last thing he had mentioned. It had happened 7 months ago, when an unknown group had entered Tony's house and had kidnapped Pepper and little Morgan, it was the worst week in Stark's life, he did not sleep on all those days and he did not do anything but investigate and investigate, until they had finally been able to rescue them. Little did for Pepper to decide to spend some time away from Tony, but she had talked to Virginia making her understand that she knew what she got into by marrying Iron Man, she could not abandon him and take him away from his son. Morgan was the light in Tony's life, since he was born, 4 years ago, there was not a day to go by without Tony thanking Pepper for giving him the best gift of his life, with everything and the problems and for almost alter the time line in which Morgan existed, the Stark-Potts marriage was one of the happiest and most solid.

"I have to think about it, Nick, I can not give you an answer right now"

"We do not have much time, agent Romanoff"

"Three days and I promise I'll give you an answer, I have to go, we're in contact"

She got up with her body still rigid and without looking at anyone left the place. When she could breathe fresh air, she allowed herself to recharge herself in one of the walls of the bar and she put one of her hands to her chest while she felt how an immense desire to cry was forming within her. But she did not allow himself to do so, she was not going to weaken or to be weak, now less than ever.

She spotted the van in the distance where she had arrived and with a quick step approached it. She inmmediately climbed and muttered a simple "To the airport" and then lost herself in her thoughts.

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After 14 hours of flight, she was finally home. She felt tired, physically and emotionally. But nothing made her more illusion than to be, finally, back. She opened the door of the house in front of her. It was neither too big nor too small, it had a nice garden to the front and a view of the sea from the back. It had four rooms and two floors, just perfect. She was not surprised not to hear some noise, normally like this was the house, except for certain moments. She closed the door carefully and went to the living room, which she found empty, she left her things in one of the chairs and went to the kitchen for a glass of water.

It was there that she found a pleasant surprise, in front of her was a man who was taking what appeared to be a turkey from the oven, there were plates and an endless number of kitchen utensils in the bar. The table at the center had a nice golden tablecloth, with two mats in front of the two chairs, a few candles and two glasses with a wine in the center. She could not help but smiling at such a beautiful detail, she returned her sight to the man in front of her and decided to wait for him to turn around.

"Do you plan to stay and watch me standing there all afternoon?"

"How did you know I was here?"

"I have a very delicate hearing, you know, I heard when you came in. Also, I calculated the time you would probably arrive and as a bonus, I could recognize your perfume even from a distance"

"Wow, it never ceases to amaze me Dr. Banner"

"It's one of my many talents"

"I missed you, Bruce"

Bruce turned to face Natasha, the melancholy and sadness he heard in her tone didn't like him at all. She was always the emotionally strongest in the relationship, the one who had always had more confidence in them. Something very important would have to be happening so that the unwavering strength that she possessed would be threatened.

"Me too, Nat" he approached her to surround her waist with his arms and place a soft kiss on her lips "Tell me what are you worried about, I feel you a little distressed"

"Fury told me what is happening"

"It's a bad thing, isn't it?"

"They know, Bruce, they know everything about us"

"What do you mean they know everything, Nat? And who are those people?"

"A few weeks ago they discovered three people spying on Tony's house, specifically Morgan" Natasha could feel Bruce's body tense, so she gave him a light touch on the cheek "One of those days, the twins were there and they saw them, they started to investigate about them and they divulged the information"

He walked away from Natasha and ran his hands through his hair, like a clear gesture of despair. Without saying a word, he climbed the stairs that led to the rooms at the top. He walked until he reached the room located in the back, the door was white and had the letters N and S attached. He opened it slowly and stayed in the center of the room, alternating his gaze between the two beds located at each end of the room, one on the right side and one on the left. This time, he was so focused that he did not notice Natasha's arrival in the room, it was until delicate hands were placed on his back, that he noticed her presence.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to them, Natasha, neither nor you, nobody is going to hurt my family"

"I know Bruce, I'm not going to allow that either, it took us a long time to get to where we are, fights, separations, wars, deaths, the adoption process, hiding"

"Do you regret something, Natasha?"

"Absolutely not, everything that I've lived took me to you, otherwise I would not have any of this, you, Nadia and Stefan are the best thing that ever happened to me"

"You and our children are also everything to me, Nat. We will fight what we have to fight and whoever it is, we will use all our resources to win this battle"

A small noise coming from one of the beds alerted them. They approached very carefully towards the bed on the right side and watched as the boy who was lying began to wake up. They watched him slowly open his eyes and they found two bright brown orbs. The boy smiled and their hearts skipped a beat. Natasha bent down to take the two-year-old in her arms and squeeze him to her chest. The little one emitted a tender "Mommy" before closing his eyes reclining just with his head in the heart of his mother. Bruce went to the other bed and could see that whoever lay there was awake. The girl with bright green eyes stretched out her little arms and exclaimed a loud "Daddy" asking to be lifted in his arms. He did not hesitate to do it. And there, while both of them admired one of their children, they promised themselves that nothing would disturb their happiness. They would not allow it, so if they had to be heroes again, for them ... Everything was worth it.

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 **(A/N): So… I'm here with a new story!! It's actually kind of funny how this story was born. I was angry because one of my stories had been deleted, as well as all the writings I had in drafts. So I decided to calm down a bit and I left fanfiction. Nothing relaxes me more than writing, so I took a notebook and I wrote, without proposing it I realized that I had created a story with a plot that I hope you find interesting.**

Y' **all know that I'm always open to suggestions, opinions and comments, as long as they are not aggressive or offensive.**

 **I will be publishing updates of this story every two days, because it takes me some time to translate, because my original texts are in Spanish.**

 **Without anything more to say… See y'all the next chapter.**

 **Att. Agus**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: The characters, as well as some situations and places presented here are owned by Marvel. I only take credit for the direction and focus of the story.**

 **Note: This story is located in the future, some situations are going to be a bit different. I hope this story will please you.**

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 _November, 2022_

 _New York city_

 _Three years earlier…_

"Tony, don't you think of taking another step!"

Pepper's desperate voice paralyzed everyone present, she was not supposed to be there, they had asked her to stay in the northern part of the city to let them know if any of them made an appearance. Dressed in a rescue armor with the best Stark technology, clearly designed by Tony, Virginia approached them.

"No, Pepper! Don't come near!" Tony's voice was weak, but it could not be otherwise "You promised me Tony, you said you were always going to be for me, remember?" by the time Pepper finished saying these words, thick tears ran down her cheeks "I'm doing this for you, Pepper" the others around them watched the scene in silence, there was nothing to say, they knew the seriousness of the situation and that inevitably was about to happen "Tony, don't do this please, I can't lose you" the heartbreaking way she pronounced that, made the heart of more than one of those present hurt, if they did not cry, was because they could not afford a moment of weakness, not when they had him in front of them.

Natasha watched the scene with great pain. She knew what Pepper was referring to. When all this happened, they thought that she would not remember it, but they had made a mistake, although they managed to alter certain events in the past, change several things and return to life in one or another deceased, they had not managed to avoid the consequences of those modifications will affect the present. They tried, they really did, but the key to undoing everything that had happened five years ago was a soul for a soul. And it had been Morgan Stark, the soul that in the beginning, had to be sacrificed, Tony wanted to prevent that from happening, he tried everything, but that had been the price to pay. After this happened, and the time line in which Morgan existed was modified, they had managed to obtain the long-awaited soul stone, but they were not even close to overcoming him. Unfortunately, something happened, which meant that even if all things changed, they could still remember everything that happened. Therefore, Pepper could still remember her son.

A roar caught everyone's attention, they took their eyes off of Tony to try to discover where it came from. A second roar was heard and this time, everyone recognized who belonged. Natasha's heart skipped a beat, she knew what that meant. They no longer had time, he had reached the last barrier and was getting closer to them. There was a moment of silence until a third roar was heard, it had sounded worse than the previous ones, had a lament, like the cry of pain of someone who had been mortally wounded.

"Nobody move!" Steve's unmistakable voice reached everyone's ears. Against their will, Natasha and Pepper were forced to stay where they were, each with her heart in her throat. "Everyone already knows what we have to do, no impulses" he said, staring at Stark "A bad move and nothing will have been worth it"

All agreed with the head and waited to take action. Every second that passes becomes more difficult, the expectation of what is going to happen only intensifies as time passes. It is then, when the environment becomes heavier, that they know that the time for the final battle has arrived. This time there will be no second chances, it is now or never. They look at each other one last time before everything starts, what is about to happen will change the lives of all the heroes, what they didn't know was how much.

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"I need someone to tell me how he is"

"They are still checking on him, the doctor said it was going to be complicated"

"I can't stay here quiet without knowing how he is"

"You don't have another option"

Clint's comment causes Natasha an annoyance, as if he did not know her, she is not one of those who remains without doing something when she is about to lose the people she loves. No, she has never been like that and she will not be now. She doesn't answer to avoid a fight, they have had enough of that. She decides to go to the cafeteria for a bit of water, she is not hungry so it will not take long. While walking, memories of the last few hours are repeated over and over again in her mind.

 _*Flashback*_

The body of one day was one of herbbest friends lies on the cold floor lifeless, with clear signs of war on his face, his suit has spots of blood spilled and his body temperature is increasingly cold. He is not the only one who lost his life in this battle, Thor, Okoye, Nebula, Wanda, Vision and Wong had also run with the same fate. On the other hand, Valkyrie, Rhodey, Sam, Hope and Scott were seriously injured.

"Natasha" Pepper's disconsolate and sad voice makes her look up "They found him, but the situation is delicate" those words are enough to make the spy's heart stop beating "What do you mean with delicate?" the fear of the response runs through every part of her body, she doesn't want to lose him too, she can't "He's very hurt, not only hulk but Bruce, the other guy did not want to let him out, they think that strangely, it's a way to protect Banner, once the transformation is done, it will be the body of him that suffers the consequences, but neither can he stay in that form, the forces of the hulk are running out and that would be dangerous "

The agent remains silent for several minutes, trying to process what Virginia has told her. She doesn't know what to do, her mind is divided, her heart has no strength to fight and her body feels out of combat. "What's going to happen then? We can not leave him like that" she didn't know where she found a voice to speak but by now, everyone was getting strength from where they could "The best option is to make him return to his human form, but the transformation has to be calm, there must be nothing unknown to him, you need to do it, Natasha. I think the time for a lullaby has come"

Wow! She didn't expect that. They hadn't done the lullaby in a long time, they had discovered that if Bruce didn't trust her, the hulk didn't either, so after several unsuccessful attempts they had stopped trying. Although it had not been necessary, there were very few times when Bruce had to give way to his green friend. When this happened, Natasha was only approaching slowly and leave some clothes in sight, what happened after nobody knew, but in a matter of minutes Bruce was with them.

"I can't do it, Pepper, the lullaby hasn't worked again for us"

"You must do it, Natasha, he doesn't have enough strength to make the transformation for himself, the longer we delay, the more painful it becomes for him"

It was all she needed to hear to decide that she would try. She didn't want him to suffer and if she could somehow avoid it, she would do it "Ok, I'll try, but I need you to keep a safe distance, if I want it to work, I need him to trust me."

After a slight nod, Pepper indicated the path. When they got there, Natasha could clearly hear how her heart was breaking. Hulk was really hurt, he had cuts and punches all over his face and body. The eyes closed and a very slow breathing, almost nonexistent. Virginia and other people there were a little behind to give them their space. Natasha sighed and cleared her throat a bit to start talking.

"Hey big guy"

Nothing. There was no answer. She began to doubt if this was a good idea or if it was going to work, but she was already there, she could not surrender at this point. She moved a little closer to the injured body in front of her and took another breath.

"The sun is getting real low"

Holding her breath, she notice how a slight spasm ran through the hulk's body, she did not want to make false hopes, but something inside her told her that the effect was coming. It was then that the body of the hulk began to move with greater force than she realized that it had worked. Not only was she happy because she had been able to stop the suffering that he had, but because the fact that the lullaby had worked, meant that the big guy trusted her again. A small smile settled on her face as she watched Bruce emerge from what was once a badly wounded green body.

 _*End of Flashback*_

"Natasha!" a shout echoed throughout the cafeteria "Natasha wait!" She recognised Clint's voice and forced herself to stop, trying to regulate her breathing, she turned slowly to face him.

"What happens?"

"The doctor just left to give us news"

"What did he say about Bruce? How is he?"

"He just woke up, he's a little more stable than when he arrived, he still has pain but the important thing is that he hasn't had any incident"

"Can I see him?"

"Why do you think I came looking for you? The doctor said that the first thing he did when he woke up was to ask for you"

"You're freaking me out Barton, take me with him"

Unable to hide the happiness she felt, she followed Clint towards the scientist's room, in her mind were forming a thousand scenarios, from the most beautiful to the most terrible. Trying not to think about that, she concentrated only on keeping her nerves out of her body. She took big puffs of air and rubbed her hands together.

They arrived at Bruce's room and neither of them made any movement, they just stared at the door in front of them. "Don't you think to come in? I thought you died to see your beloved" Clint realized that what he had said did not please his friend at all as soon as he saw her look, so, for his own sake, he turned and left.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Natasha was encouraged to enter. She wished she could remove the image that hit her when she opened the door, Bruce was in bed with several cables and devices around him, he had several band-aids on his face and bandages on most of his body. His breathing was quiet and slow, his eyes closed and his pale aspect made her heart find. It hurt to see him like that, it was something that killed her inside, she understood then that it was because she had never stopped loving him, he always stayed alive in her heart, even though they spent a lot of time without seeing each other, she was still willing to do everything with him.

She approached very carefully until she was standing beside the bed, her hands were burning to touch Bruce's cheek, her lips wanted to come in contact with his. But none of that happened. She just stared at him, without making no noise, watching him until a movement in his hand alerted her, saw him slowly open his eyes and blink several times trying to focus. He tried to move a little and let out a moan of pain.

"Don't move, the wounds are recent"

Bruce opened his eyes suddenly recognizing that voice, so many times he had heard it in dreams that he thought he was being tricked again by his subconscious, so he forced himself to remain silent, wanting to prevent someone from entering and discovering him talking only.

"Do not you plan to say anything?"

This was definitely not a dream, she was there, with him.

"Is it really you"

"That's right, I'm here, how do you feel?"

"My whole body hurts but…" he paused, thinking about the next words that were going to come out of his mouth "...having you here makes me feel good inside"

"Too romantic, Banner, but I'm also happy to have you with me, I had a very bad time believing that something could happen to you"

"Let's not waste time anymore, Natasha. Just imagining a world that you're not in, is something that kills me. Lets try, run with it"

The room was completely silent. Both mired in their thoughts. Natasha was still trying to process what Bruce had told her. She wanted to play hard with him, but the truth was that she couldn't, couldn't keep giving to what she wanted, to what her life needed and what her heart longed for. There was nothing more she could lose if he tried.

"If running is the plan, as far as you want"

And with those words they both felt that, this time, it was forever.

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 **A/N): Ta - da!!! Here's a new chapter. This chapter is a kind of an explanation or flashback, we'll see how some things happened. Thanks to all of you for the support and sweet comments. Love y'all. Hope you like this one.**

 **I don't have any idea about what it's going to happen in avengers 4, this is just from my imagination.**

 **See y'all the next chapter and tomorrow with an update for 'As Far As You Want'**

 **Att. Agus**


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